Formerly, "Just Thinking", this blog presents the thoughts and experiences of a family historian trying to demystify the past and uncover the stories of an elusive ancestry. Surnames in Franklin County, NC are YARBOROUGH, GREEN, HAWKINS, and DUNSTON. In Halifax and Warren Counties, surnames are DAVIS, BROWN, and ROSS. With so much of my family's history shrouded in darkness, is my personal mission to uncover the hidden details of my ancestry and bring them INTO THE LIGHT.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Did I just run into the elusive William A Green?

Although I've already posted today, I just had to come back to share my surprise and excitement over what I believe to be a completely unexpected siting of my dear, elusive ancestor, William Adam Green. I was doing a search on http://www.genealogybank.com/ to see if anyone was blogging about my Dunstan/Dunston ancestors, when I was led to this link: http://www.ncgenweb.us/ncspam/3ncsa.htm . I got there and discovered that it was a page about the 3rd NC Volunteer Infantry - from the Spanish-American War. (Please visit the page if you'd like to read the history of this regiment, and peruse the long list of names of it's members.)Anyway, I was carefully scrolling down the list, searching for the name William Dunston, when lo and behold, there was the name, William A. Green, and sure enough, he was from Louisburg! I couldn't believe my eyes! Here's what I saw:

Green, William A.: Of Louisburg, North Carolina. Enlisted on June 23rd, 1898; mustered into service as a Sergeant on July 14th, 1898, at Fort Macon, North Carolina; mustered out of service with the Company on February 4th, 1899, at Macon, Georgia.

Could this be? Could this really be my William? Within seconds, I came to a decided conclusion. Yes. This had to be him. After all, I've not been able to account for him during the space of years between the 1880 Census, and his 1904 marriage in New York. In 1898, William would have been 25 years old - a likely age to enter into service, if he hadn't already. It also fits in that he was out by 1899, and had time to fall in love with a girl from Louisburg (Sally Lou Johnson), who he married in New York, where he'd gone to live by 1904. So, now I have a new project. I'll need to find his enlistment records to verify his parents' names (Anna and Nathaniel) and date of birth, and hopefully get additional information about, and maybe even pictures of this regiment! Whoo-hoo!